"I like his swagger," Nicklaus said (on his official Facebook page, no less!) "I like the way he handles himself. I like his desire to be great. I like his desire to do the things he needs to do. I like that in a young guy. He's cocky in a nice way."

He certainly did have that swag cranked up to obscene levels all week.

Tiger Woods had a slightly different take, though.

"The way Rory plays is pretty aggressively," Woods said. "When he gets it going, he gets it going. When it gets going bad, it gets going real bad -- it's one or the other.

"He's very similar to what Phil does. He has his hot weeks and he has his weeks where he's off. And that's just the nature of how he plays the game."

It might be taken the wrong way but I think Woods is right. If McIlroy ever figures out how to take that bad round of of play and stay on track in majors with his putting then, well, who knows what he could accomplish.

Graeme McDowell paid him the ultimate compliment.

"Like I say, I'm envious and respectful and appreciative of the curly haired kid."